Mapping Quandary

[Water Bob]

I don't know why I've never thought of this before. Probably because I haven't created landscape in a populated and tame area for a game in a long, long time.






Background: How I came upon the quandary--


I am creating a map for my upcoming Conan game. I'm setting the game in Argos, which is an old Hyborian kingdom. It's been settled land for thousands of years, ruled over by different peoples, all the way back to the time of the Acheronians (who were overrun by the Bori barbarians, who eventually evolved into the Argosseans, the people who inhabit the land today). The point here being: this is not the frontier. This is land has long been settled, and, in fact, the interior of Argos is generally considered very peaceful, free of bandits and most monsters.


But, this is a fantasy game (well, sword & sorcery, to be more precise), and adventure can be had anywhere during the Hyborian Age. My last campaign centered on the true frontier of the known world, in Cimmeria, and it was primarily a wilderness setting. This time, I wanted to go the opposite direction where I had a mix of races (the cosmopolitan nature of the Argossean port cities) and big cities to explore as well as the wilderness. Plus, there aren't a lot of ruins in Cimmeria, and in for this campaign, Argos is littered with ruins from the various peoples who have conquered the land dating back to the time of the Acheronians. That means, unlike my previous campaign, I'll be able to add dungeons to explore.


So, I've set game (will start the game), in the border region of Argos near the border with Shem. In my game, the region is a bit more lawless than the true interior of the kingdom. This is what passes for the "frontier" in Argos, although it is, in no way, as savage as Cimmeria was/is.










Here's my quandary:


Part of designing a campaign is setting up places to put the PCs in jeopardy. Part of creating jeopardy is isolating the PCs, cutting off any support, so that they have to rely upon themselves. Well, a town of villagers can be quite a resource for PCs, depending on what it is that has them in jeopardy. The villages typically aren't isolated places. They have alliances and are maybe protected by the local lordling. At the least, the village is a safe place to sleep and resupply--maybe even gather NPC help.


Ever seen a map of a fantasy world where the villages and towns were very close together? Typically, no. It's usually a trek to the next town.


Quandary: But, in reality, especially in antiquity and medieval times, towns and villages were usually spaced very close together. You typically can't go 10 miles without hitting some small village. This lattice network of villages and towns provides a support network for populated areas.


Have you ever thought about that? Unless there is some terrain feature to prevent it (even then, in real life, villages will pop up in the damnest places, on the sides of mountains, in the center of swamps, etc), populated areas usually have a town or village every 10 miles or so from each other. And, if I follow that pattern for my roleplaying game, "help" is never going to be that far away.

 

[Thaumaturge]

Have you ever thought about that? Unless there is some terrain feature to prevent it (even then, in real life, villages will pop up in the damnest places, on the sides of mountains, in the center of swamps, etc), populated areas usually have a town or village every 10 miles or so from each other. And, if I follow that pattern for my roleplaying game, "help" is never going to be that far away.

I have. In the campaign setting I've blogged (currently on summer hiatus) below solves, for me, some of those issues. Because I put big cities on the back of giant golems that wander around and trod on any permanent structure. The villages that remain have to be small, mobile, and sparse.

Because, yeah, I wanted help to be far away.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Have you ever thought about that? Unless there is some terrain feature to prevent it (even then, in real life, villages will pop up in the damnest places, on the sides of mountains, in the center of swamps, etc), populated areas usually have a town or village every 10 miles or so from each other. And, if I follow that pattern for my roleplaying game, "help" is never going to be that far away.

I was thinking about this just recently!

Sitting on the bus thinking about it at length, I decided it was a non-problem, because it was "help". Not help. Somewhere between a couple of dozen and, at most, a few hundred, people (and maybe even less than two dozen in some cases), and they're mostly subsisting, not thriving. Most of them will be farmers with little/no extra food (what they have probably goes to the local lord or is traded for other essentials like pottery or blacksmithwork), no desire to let people in, and the villages will have limited defences, and certainly not be able to afford full-time warriors of any kind (lords will likely be more extorting than really helping - historically that was very common, even the norm). So they can give you a safe place to sleep, maybe, if you pay them, but if they think you might lead monsters/bandits back to them, you're out, and they're going to expect you "rich adventurers" to pay unless you're proving of services another way.

Resupply? Not so much. They can sell you food, but they don't have specialized stuff like Iron Rations, they don't have high-quality stuff like silk rope, and whilst they can maybe repair weapons/armour (MAYBE, it's not a given), they can't really sell you new stuff.

They might also be hostile to outsiders for assorted reasons (religion perhaps).

Or you could just go "to hell with realism", but I guess you'd like to avoid that!

 

[the Jester]

Depending on the social structure of the villages and towns, they might not simply be helpful. Going to town could have its own risks and pitfalls. Maybe the pcs are treated like social outcasts and murderhobos. Maybe they have to pay a fee to enter the town every time. Maybe the local headman resents their heroic reputation.

 

[Water Bob]

Depending on the social structure of the villages and towns, they might not simply be helpful. Going to town could have its own risks and pitfalls. Maybe the pcs are treated like social outcasts and murderhobos. Maybe they have to pay a fee to enter the town every time. Maybe the local headman resents their heroic reputation.

I'm talking in general terms. Think of a map of a large area, say, 200 x 200 miles. That's a buttload of towns and villages, if the area is populated.

Take a look at the map around where you live. Use Google Maps. It's incredible how many towns there are in a small area. And, we haven't even begun to speak of homesteads.

And, forget about the ramifications for all that resource for the PCs. Just think about the work put on the Ref if he is to create a town every 10 miles or so!

 

[Umbran]

Quandary: But, in reality, especially in antiquity and medieval times, towns and villages were usually spaced very close together. You typically can't go 10 miles without hitting some small village. This lattice network of villages and towns provides a support network for populated areas.

You can typically go one days' travel, and hit another village, yes. But think for a moment what we mean by that. The key is demographics.

In a sparse, pseudo-medieval world, that "village" isn't what we think of as a modern village, with hundreds or even thousands of people - think more around dozens, including the children. That next village is a wide spot in the road, by a well. There are just a few families there, to work the land nearby. There probably isn't an inn, per se. The "tavern" is the house of someone who has put together a few kegs of beer. The people in that village are subsistence farmers, and not much else is there.

That next village isn't a place with notable NPCs with class levels. They don't have a store - folks go to market days in the real towns for that. Even a small group of bandits is a problem for the village. They don't have a lot of help to give. The classic "Village of Hommlet" is a *BIG* village, bordering on being a town, not an average village.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm talking in general terms. Think of a map of a large area, say, 200 x 200 miles. That's a buttload of towns and villages, if the area is populated.

Take a look at the map around where you live. Use Google Maps. It's incredible how many towns there are in a small area. And, we haven't even begun to speak of homesteads.

And, forget about the ramifications for all that resource for the PCs. Just think about the work put on the Ref if he is to create a town every 10 miles or so!

If you just want to not do it, don't do it. Ignore realism. It's okay. But don't cite realism then complain about "the work" (just make some kind of random village generator, or find one)! You only need to detail ones the PCs actually go to.

Or think about refugees. People flee if they are threatened. It's what humans do. If there are raiding warbands or the like, maybe everyone had fled the villages?

 

[ExploderWizard]

You can typically go one days' travel, and hit another village, yes. But think for a moment what we mean by that. The key is demographics.

In a sparse, pseudo-medieval world, that "village" isn't what we think of as a modern village, with hundreds or even thousands of people - think more around dozens, including the children. That next village is a wide spot in the road, by a well. There are just a few families there, to work the land nearby. There probably isn't an inn, per se. The "tavern" is the house of someone who has put together a few kegs of beer. The people in that village are subsistence farmers, and not much else is there.

That next village isn't a place with notable NPCs with class levels. They don't have a store - folks go to market days in the real towns for that. Even a small group of bandits is a problem for the village. They don't have a lot of help to give. The classic "Village of Hommlet" is a *BIG* village, bordering on being a town, not an average village.

DING!

My OD&D campaign area is pretty much laid out like this. The overall area has one actual "town" like village located next to the fort of the local lord. The rest of the region is dotted with po-dunk thorps 3-4 miles apart of with no real businesses to speak of. The only source of real help is the actual town. The nearest adventure locations I have placed are a good whole days march from town. Most are are further away than that. I have a map with all the villages on it and the poor quality trails that pass for roads that connect them.

 

[Water Bob]

DING!

My OD&D campaign area is pretty much laid out like this. The overall area has one actual "town" like village located next to the fort of the local lord. The rest of the region is dotted with po-dunk thorps 3-4 miles apart of with no real businesses to speak of. The only source of real help is the actual town. The nearest adventure locations I have placed are a good whole days march from town. Most are are further away than that. I have a map with all the villages on it and the poor quality trails that pass for roads that connect them.

Yeah, I agree. Umbran offers good food for thought.

 

[Grazzt]

DING!

My OD&D campaign area is pretty much laid out like this. The overall area has one actual "town" like village located next to the fort of the local lord. The rest of the region is dotted with po-dunk thorps 3-4 miles apart of with no real businesses to speak of. The only source of real help is the actual town. The nearest adventure locations I have placed are a good whole days march from town. Most are are further away than that. I have a map with all the villages on it and the poor quality trails that pass for roads that connect them.

Mine's pretty much the same way. "Main village" and then a lot of smaller places all around it. And by smaller places, I mean pretty much like Umbran described above. Couple of homes, maybe a makeshift tavern or whatever. The PCs may be able to find a barn or stable to sleep in for the night (and may have to earn their keep if they decide to stay more than one night), but that's it. No help in the sense of raising mercenaries or anything else.